Like tōtara, tī kōuka are extremely useful trees. Tī kōuka leaves are exceptionally strong and also durable in seawater, hence they were used in the construction of fishing nets, as well as kete to collect seafood. They were woven whole or as dressed fibre for ropes such as anchor ropes, and were used to construct tough footwear — pāraerae. Some cloaks were woven from the leaves, too, and individual fibres were used as nooses in waka kererū, the tōtara water troughs set in trees to attract and snare the birds. Tī kōuka was also used as a vegetable, with the growing tips of the branches snapped off, trimmed and steamed. In fact, this use was copied by Captain James Cook and other early European sailors, hence the name ‘cabbage’ tree. In many places tī was actually cultivated, or at least encouraged to grow by clearing off competing vegetation. The trees were also harvested for the underground stems, which are rich in sugar, a use that ancestral Māori brought with them from Polynesia. A related species, tī ngahere, is common in moist open places, such as former slips, along the tracks in the park. Its leaves are even stronger than tī kōuka leaves. There is a very important sandbank in the park named Onetahuti, literally meaning ‘burn tī on the beach’ (although usually mispronounced ‘One-ta-huti’), where local iwi believe dry tī ngahere leaves were used to make smoke signals. 28
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